Dwemer's Story
by Volldagora
Summary: Long ago, during the first era, a race was wiped out of the face of Nirn during the Battle of Red Mouintain. Now, after the fierce battle in Skyrim with Alduin, the World-Eater, a survivor is found. That young survivor will change the fate of her race as well as the whole Nirn. Rated T for violence and battle scars.
1. Prologue

**Prologue:**

The heroic battles were fought for the mother Skyrim. With the rise of the dragons, a new threat was posed not only to Skyrim, but the whole planet of Nirn. The Dragonborn came to light as the first dragon was defeated near Whiterun, and then the battles continued. The ground shook from all the shock and pain from the shouts with such a force that it triggered an unseen mechanism deep beneath the ground, beneath the ravaged cold lands.

Many Falmers died when the caves shacked from the pain of magic forces. Fleeing towards the old Dwemer ruins that activated more machines with the unstable underground, more Falmer warriors died. As the dwemer machines were activated, they rushed into the battle. One of the dwemer spheres stopped though only to look at something that his masters once wished to do: to save their child. What it saw was a little elf all curled up in a pool of magic inside the golden metal.

The automaton had to kill the invaders, but at the same time it had the urge to save its master. At last, it reached towards the control panel of the machine and perform a couple of movements. The wheel work started to turn and twist into complicated positions as the blue blobs of light appeared and reached towards the sleeping child, breathing in life after a long, cold slumber. The movements stopped, and a giant glassy door opened revealing a one year-old child on the ground, no longer sunken in the pool of mystical forces. The machine reached for the child with its metallic hands and carried it to safety, away from the bloodshed wars of the betrayed and tricksters. As it rushed out of the danger, the child awoken and began to cry for its hungry and in need of parental guidance. The machine shifted its attention to the little master, processing its memory bank for the information needed to tend the master's needs as well as guidance.

As they passed through the hallways, the dwemer automatons awoke for their master is here and safe. They followed the machine, guiding it to the section of the fortress that could be locked away safely from the outside world as well as any future danger. Inside the hallways, there were provisions left by the previous dwemers such as books or food stored inside the magical cupboards. The followers entered the fortress and sealed the doors shut so that the enemy won't reach their leader.

The machines communicated to each other for further actions. They divided into groups: one patrolled the hallways, leaving two guarding the door, other group was in charge of farming the necessary food for the master, others cooked and cleaned the fortress, four machines were in charge for keeping the library organized as well as collected any scrolls, and the last group, including the one who found the child, were to advise the master and fulfill its needs.

As the groups were formed, they immediately turned to their duties. The child was carried into a room that was being prepared for her. As the cleaners finished with the place, the child was put into the crib beside the wall of a much lit room that felt quite empty.

By the time the child was put into the crib, the dwemer sphere recovered a memory segment it was looking for. The creators used to calmly and gently pick up the child, feed it to soft yet nutritious food, and would play with her for a while until she needed a good night sleep. Judging by the cries and the child's expression, the machine decided to feed the child to warm milk. The other two caretakers rushed to get the food as the one told them what to do. They did not bring the milk, but they brought a bowl of mashed vegetables that was mixed perfectly. It was green, which made the child curious as she stopped crying. A spoon was brought to her mouth, and she gladly accepted it. As she tasted the unknown substance, she began to happily enjoy the meal as well as make happy noises. The machines were satisfied that their master was happy though were puzzled by the fact that she did not had any name except for a bracelet. "Arcane" was carved into the tiny bracelet, so the dwarven beings decided to call their master "Arcane".

At age of 6, Arcane was educated by the same dwemer machine that rescued her. She decided to call it Vector. To her surprise, Vector was different than the other dwemer machines. It was able to understand her with such an ease, and sometimes she thought that Vector was very understanding.

Even when she was young she was quite intelligent. She was puzzled herself, too, but reached to a conclusion that it must've been her dwemer blood. She studied everything she could find in the ruins, but only the books on dwemer culture were present as well as the study of the arcane arts. Of course, she did stumble upon the rarest books that detailed other things such as the Daedra, Divines, or other historic events that happened around Tamriel. However, after hours of study, she was finally able to find the goal that the dwemers yearned to achieve: they were working on a power that was supposed to be equal to those of the Divines and the Daedra. However, afterwards there was nothing on the matter or the dwemers; there were just no records at all. She questioned the machines, but they only had a black hole in their memory; they always thought that their master was always here, in their den. Therefore, she never found the answer.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Leaving the Den**

Arcane never thought that world could be so complicated and twisted. She always thought that she had all the answers here, and she got them only when she was old enough to understand her ancestors. Her blood was of the dwemer, but not the way she thought about things. As she studied every bit of paperwork she could find, she deducted that dwemers were very rejective towards the Daedra, and that's what lead them to extinction.

Her kind dreamed about suppressing the gods. She knows that they eventually created that machine of theirs, but then they were simply gone. It was a common knowledge that the Daedra hated humans... almost all of them, so then why would they allow the dwemer to gain such power? Here's your answer, however, she still cannot understand why she lives. Was she simply forgotten? It could be, but again, the Daedra aren't stupid.

She could brainstorm on the possibilities, but that won't prove anything. She turned to the mirror that the automatons constructed. Her hair, long and black as the dark night, eyes very light brown, and a pale skin, like of those from the vampire tales was the usual thing she saw in the mirror. She wasn't a beauty, but her look satisfied her. She brushed her hair and made a braid, pushing it to the front since the hood of her black robe bothered her constantly. Besides, she will need to wear it if she wanted to go out into the world.

She gathered all the potions she made, got her enchanted sword that the machines made for her, and was ready to head off. Suddenly, all her life passed through these brown eyes; how all her 25 years Vector has been taking care of her after he found her. Arcane exited her bedroom that was filled with all the blueprints and books all over the desks and shelves. She approached Vector, who was outside her room, and she shed a bit of tears.

"Farewell, Vector. The dwemers are now free!" She told him. Vector, along with other dwemer machines who came from other rooms, bowed to her.

"It has been my pleasure to have you all as my caretakers who were loyal to me until today," she started with a serious graveness in her tongue, "I will miss every one of you. Now I must go to search what I seek... Goodbye," she finished, and headed for the big gates that led the way to the outside world. The two dwemer centurions bowed and opened the gates, letting Arcane go into the deserted hallways.

As she stepped out, the gates closed behind her, and the darkness fell upon the place. She casted a quick Magelight spell that hovered on top of her head. The place was extremely dusty making Arcane sneeze periodically. As she kept going through the tunnels, she was thinking on how the dwemer technology still managed to function after all these years; most of the ceiling has collapsed, with a little stony cliffs at some edges of the hallway.

Arcane reached the stone steps that went up. She began moving on, but found her exhausted pretty quickly. She wasn't surprised at that since the dwemer machines were her servants, so she never really had much of physical activity. Besides, they were very protective over her until she gave out a strong, dominating order. Otherwise, they could've detained her in the chest of safety and caution for the next half era or so.

After ten minutes of muscle pain, she finally reached the top of the stairs that was followed by another hallway. Strange, but these hallways look more... habitable. It began getting colder and less dusty. She jerked her head as she felt that she stepped onto something, which was a skeleton. She bent down to examine the remains, wondering how long this person was dead, or what caused its death. Sadly, she doesn't know anything about the study of the dead bodies, so she quickly moved on, finding more skeletons and malfunctioned machines. Big blocks of ice were everywhere now. It was freezing, but Arcane used a spell that prevented any future frost damage, so now she was fine. She became more and more excited because she felt that the way out is near. As she was getting more excited, she heard strange noises coming from ahead. She quickly hid behind a column and took a deep breath. As a child, she read dwemer fables that the machines brought to her. One of these books was the tale of an elf thief who tricked the nords by hiding in the water. Arcane thought about the tale, though the circumstances are a bit different than that thief's.

The noises became clearer, but she could not identify them. A small curiosity burned inside her mind; she wanted to be on the safe side, but at the same time wanted to see her first creature of Nirn. She tried to peek from the column, and what she saw was terrifying. There was a creature that looked like an elf, but yet it wasn't at the same time. It didn't have the most pleasurable face, but Arcane did notice that their eyes were closed, or maybe even missing. She quickly hid her head, feeling a terrifying rash go all over her body.

The creature passed by not even noticing Arcane hiding in the shadows. For an extra caution, she decided to cast an invisibility spell along with a Muffle. She quickly ran to find the exit, passing by other similar creatures until she found the big golden doors. She could feel a breeze coming from the doors. That's definitely the way out.

She always thought about how the world must've been beautiful. Now, she doesn't think she will bear to look at it. The bright sun of the north blinded her eyes, forcing her to quickly pull up the hood of her robe, though she managed to see the snowy landscape. Her visibility became a bit better, but it still wasn't enough to look at anything except her feet. She thought for a while on how to proceed; there definitely were more of those nasty little creatures roaming around the outside entrance.

It was best to think up something and quick before the darkness befalls the lands along with other things. She sat down on the ground, thinking about anything she could use to get to the nearest settlements if there were any. Nothing. She had nothing but to remain till dark, or she could summon something out of the planes of Oblivion, but then again, the creature would be tempted to deceive its master rather than to obey...

She did not have time to finish her thought as she heard sword slashing. She got up, startled and ready to fire fireballs. She never shows fear but her mind was jumping around, both confused and scared. She never thought that her first experience outside will be this horrible and horrid.

After a few moments, the noises died away. She always used to dream about being in one of the great heroic battles against Tiber Septim, how thrilling and adventurous it must be. But now, her childhood proved her to be wrong.

The sun was setting down slowly; the snow isn't as bright as it was. She heard snowy footsteps getting louder and louder. She was still armed with magic, but was concerned if this was a friendly or hostile subject. Slowly tilting her held up, she saw long legs, thin and buried in the thick snow that were hardly moving in it. Tilting her head a bit more, she saw a couple of blood splatter on the snow and a dead beast, a sabbercat.

"You there..." the voice panted. It was a she, and she needed help.

She tilted her head in order to see this mysterious woman. She wasn't a mer nor one of those beastly races, and her skin wasn't as red as of those of a redguards (she read books on the redguard, but fortunately, they only described their basic background as of those of other races), so she could be an imperial, nord, or a breton. The woman had a fair red hair that was clumsily tied into a ponytail, her face was in some sort of paint, and she wore lots of steel armor along with a steel greatsword. She was covered in blood, but what caught Arcane's attention was her leg; the armor was broken in that place, leaving the woman with a giant bite mark.

Instead of saying anything, Arcane quickly rushed towards the stranger, still with a stinging pain in her eyes, and equipped a "Healing Hands" spell in both of her hands. When she was close enough to the stranger, she let her magicka go, slowly and constantly, healing the woman. At first the warrior hesitated when she saw Arcane charging at her, but then realized that she meant no harm as Arcane wore robes of those of mages and had magic balls in her hands.

As the stranger healed and felt more conscious than ever, she stood rigidly and tall, not pressing more weight on her right leg in order to compose her posture.

"Thank you, stranger. I would've been long dead if you didn't happen to be here," the stranger smiled. Arcane just stared back at her, still with a pain from the sun.

"Miss, you seemed to be in great distress. How can I leave a wounded warrior in the middle of nowhere?" Arcane seriously remarked. She is not the type to smile or laugh like the crazy Sheogorath.

"True, but there are people who prefer to stir clear of trouble. The Divines must be kind to me today for they send you here when I needed a healer," she commented, giving more of the religious feel when she said Divines. By the time, Arcane was sitting in a pile of snow, observing the woman who seemed to be like what the books told; a person who, most likely, worshipped the Aedra. Arcane decided not to criticize the warrior in her knowledge of the world and life for she needed to get to the nearest city as quickly as possible.

"Would you care to show me a way to the nearby city or town, miss..."

"Keena, and would you drop the Miss part?" she requested.

"As you wish, Keena. Would you care to show me the way? I got lost in these mountains when I decided to go into a cave and came out somewhere else," she lied to her. She doesn't think it would be a good idea to tell Keena her origin as well as explaining her reasons and actions to a mere stranger.

Keena nodded, "Sure! I know these mountains better than any trolls. Hahaha." she laughed at her own joke. Arcane stood up, expressionless by the joke.

Keena lead Arcane onto the path that is barely seen since the wind increased, pushing all the light snow into different directions. Keena looked up at sky, "A storm is kicking up. We better hurry 'till it's too late," she emphasized. Arcane nodded and kept following the warrior through the thick snow.

After 10 minutes of walking to the nearest city, Arcane noticed that Keena started trembling; the storm has arrived with its blizzards and coldness though it did not affected Arcane due to her spell, but Keena wore a metallic armor that is not best for warming up the body. Noticing this, Arcane cast the spell on Keena. She immediately stopped shivering.

"Thanks. The cold is pretty severe in these parts, so even if I wear a lot of fur under my armor, it still would not shield me from the storm," Keena once again thanked her.

"We can keep going. I doubt that there would be any beasts in this weather," Arcane commented, trying to tell Keena that it is probably the safest time for them to reach their destination. Keena agreed, and they kept going and going until the storm was behind, and the green grass started showing up through the snow.

By now, they were out of the harsh coldness. They were on the road that is made of pieces of rocks of different light colors, not too distinguishable. The road went up the hill, making Arcane tired a lot more than walking. She knew that if she tried to take a break, then Keena might think that something is amiss with her, that she might not be the one who she claims is.

The gates were visible on top, they even passed by a few guards that were patrolling the road. They did not payed much attention except when Keena greeted them with a nice, firm handshake. She did not see it, but could feel that the guards were smiling back to Keena. Comrades maybe?

They stopped at the big armed gates. The guard seemed quite approving of Keena, but not Arcane.

"Halt there," he blocked the gates and ordered Arcane. She stopped; it was night time, and she still wore the hood. It probably concealed her face by now, which made the guard's instincts of a watch dog rise.

"Is anything wrong, Sir?" Arcane calmly asked him while Keena gave him a "what's wrong" look.

"I've never seen you before in Solitude, and you look suspicious with that hood and robes of yours," he stated. Arcane's expression remained the same, but she was worried that they'll find out that she is a dwarf however; she has no choice if she wants to be in safety and around the people. Sighing, she pulled down her hood, revealing her unusual features for an elf. Both the guard and Keena were stunned.

"May I pass now, Sir? I really would like to take a proper rest at a nearby inn since I spend almost all of my magicka in order to save Keena."

"Umm... Yes... Yes, you may pass," he approved, still in a shock from seeing an unusual elf.

"Thank you, kind Sir. Do not worry, I will not cause any trouble to you and my fellow citizens," she replied, then turned to her companion, "Thank you for your guidance, Keena. I will never forget what you did for me."

Snapping out, she bid her farewell and headed inside. Arcane followed her through the stony walls and the gate into, what it seems to be, a noble city. It was dark but she could still notice different plants growing around the well-made houses. She was _astonished_ to see the beautiful architecture of the city, how well kept it was.

She saw Keena heading over to what seems to be a market, then headed for the stony archway, and was gone. Sighing, Arcane pulled back her hood; it was good that no one thought that she was a dwarf, but it's still pretty dangerous to walk around looking inferior. Looking around, she stopped at a place, with a sign "The Winking Skeever". She was puzzled by what a skeever is, but decided to go in anyway. Stopping hallway to the door, she realized that she has no money. She poked around the things she had: enchanted sword, a magic potion, health regeneration potion, a pouch, and her dwemer tools. She kept those in order to keep innovating new things, maybe even making a profit on those inventions someday.

She finally decided to sell her health regeneration potion. After all, she is very skilled at arcane arts. She slowly entered the place, taking a quick look around the place. As soon as she stepped inside, she was filled with a beautiful flute dance in the air as well as an unbearable stench. She thought if it was the infamous alcohol that the fables told about.

There were quite a lot of people; this was either a tavern or a local pub, she thought. She heard a woman singing, probably a bard, no doubt. She noticed that there was a counter to the left with two men: one was drinking while the other was behind the counter, cleaning up a mug as at the same time, he was talking to the first man.

Approaching the second man at the bar, Arcane quietly asked "Are you the owner of "the Winking Skeever"?" The man turned her attention from the drunkard to her.

"Name's Corpulus Vinius and yes, I am the owner. What can I do for you, mam?" he asked, trying to sound politely as the drunkard was making a mess of the wooden counter.

"Do you buy items from the travelers?'

"Of course, but it depends on what item you are offering." Arcane reached into her robe pocket and took out the health regeneration potion, placing it on the counter between herself and Vinius.

"How much for the health regeneration potion?"

"Hm... I'll give you a 155 gold for it," he answered thoughtfully, probably thinking if he should've announced a lower price.

Smilingly, Arcane accepted the gold. Not too bad for a beginning, huh? Though as quickly as the smile appeared, it withered immediately, returning back that serious look of a scholar.

"How much for a room?" she added.

"Ten gold." Arcane took out the gold she just received, and gave the ten peaces to her. A pleasing look stretched on the his face.

"Go up the stairs and take the last room on the left," he gave her the directions as he handed over the key. Taking the key, Arcane marched towards the empty table in the corner, to the left of the bard.

It was a good time to explore the new world as well as her surroundings. The tavern was almost filled from head to toe, mostly with bearded men in heavy armor and battle axes. She guessed that those were probably nords since they were drinking a lot of mead as well as talking about Skyrim being infested with the Thalmor scam and losing the empire to imperials. She knew that the nords originated in Skyrim, so that's where she is now, she guessed. There really are a lot of nords in here, drinking away their life and sharing their battle scars. She noticed that the nord women were quite the same as men, but Keena didn't seemed like one. Imperial or a breton?

Her attention turned to a conversation between a redguard and a wood elf that were sitting near her. Their conversation grabbed Arcane's attention since they started talking about... dragons.

"I am telling you, the world is going to be doomed!' the elf shouted at the redguard.

"Blah, Alduin, the World-Eater, is dead! If the Dragonborn managed to kill HIM, then there are no problems with the other dragons!" the redguard exclaimed. The elf didn't give up there.

"But what if the Dragonborn dies? THEN what? We will die in the hands of dragons!"

" The Dragonborn is back after how many centuries? Hell, ever since the end of Oblivion crisis! Don't you think that the Divines send him here?" he only smirked in response, hope in his eyes. Arcane remembered some books that detailed about Tiber Septim and his dragon blood, which made her shiver since it sounds like she was asleep for god knows how many centuries.

"That's a totally different matter!" the elf exclaimed, "the last Dragonborn was Martin, ONE of the last Septims since the death of Uriel Septim, but as far as this new Dragonborn is concerned, he is no Septim!" she took a short breath before continuing, "Do you know any Dragonborns that were present during and after the Oblivion Crisis? No! There weren't any! And now comes a fanatic claiming to be a Dragonborn yet how could he inherit the dragon blood if none were existent?" she emphasized on the fact that the person lied about their inheritance based on the historic facts. It's true that one simply doesn't become a Dragonborn. The redguard's expression changed.

"It's true that he couldn't be a Dragonborn, but then why did Alduin come back? It's as mysterious as the Dragonborn himself," he just remarked, brushing off most of her explanation aside. Arcane decided it's time to find out more things about this wicked world.

As the two continued talking, Arcane rose and came towards them. "Do you mind if I join your conversation?" she causally asked. The two turned to her, suspiciously looking.

"Never seen you in Solitude before," the elf started first before the redguard had a chance to say anything. She jerked her head towards the speaker.

"I am new to these lands. I came here by boat from the west, but it got wracked along with my belongings, so I had to walk here the rest of my way," she improvised a defensive background information, not the best one though. The elf agreed then, but the redguard eyed her clothes.

"What's with the get-up?" he asked when the elf gave her approval to join in. Arcane gave a confused look.

"Pardon me?"

"Don't mind him. Luke didn't mean to offend you in any way, but he is a hell of a curious dog, if you know what I mean." She gave a sour look to Luke, the redguard. "Name's Ochia, by the way," she added.

"You can call me Arcane. Pleased to meet you," she made a slow bow. The two looked at each other and gave a soft laugher. She just took a seat by the elf, and stared at them until they were finished.

"You don't have to be so formal, you know. It's not a temple or the legion," she smiled at Arcane. Things must've really changed, haven't they?

"Anyway, you were talking about dragons..."

"Yes," both said at the same time.

"...Do you know where I can find one?" The question stunned them. They looked at each other with a worried look.

"Why would you try to kill yourself? I mean, it's suicidal!" he exclaimed, sounding like she was a crazy woman. "Besides, most of them migrated out of Skyrim." Arcane tilted her head with a grave expression on her face.

"I would like to study this creature since," that's where she started improvising once again, "they befell to Alduin's magic force. Maybe I will find the cause to such an interesting magic phenomena, hm?" The two took a moment to whisper to each other before giving their answer. Arcane feels already uneasy to be in a company of so many people after all these years of no socializing except the study of her scrolls and the books. Finally, the two motioned with a finger for her to come closer, and she did as they requested.

"There is one nearby actually," the elf said. "But you never heard from us, understand?" A nod in response.

"We heard the guards mentioning a dragon somewhere near the snowy mountains, to the north of here" she said.

"However, the guards did not want to spread these news to frighten the citizens since they were glad to hear that the dragons have migrated out of here, so you better keep it to yourself," and he finished for her.

"I understand their concern." She then smiled, "I appreciate what you did for me and my valuable research. Goodbye," and she left them be.

She went up the stairs, feeling the tiredness of doing physical activity all day, and also the tingling pain in her eyes. She reached for the key that sat in her small pouch, then sticking it into the door. With a loud creak, it opened revealing a giant bed, a chest, a mirror, cupboards, shelves filled with books, and a lot more items lying about the place. It had a noble-ish look to it as the rest of the city.

Closing the door behind her, she took off her hood and looked into the mirror. Same face, like anything will change. She fell onto her bed, her head in a pillow. The fabric is pretty nice to touch, and is quite comforting too. At least it is better than sleeping on a snow with a protection spell.

Turning her head, she saw a book on the little, short cupboard. Her fingers, gently wrapping and grabbing the book, she read "Olaf and the Dragon". She smiled as she remembered reading the tale back at the dusty dwemer ruins. A famous nord tale; they do have a touch with tales, she thought.

Getting up from the bed, she decided to examine the rest of the books that were scattered about the room. On the bookshelf, she noticed most of the books had a familiar topic that she already knew such as _The Book of Daedra_, or _Aedra and Daedra_. The rest of the novels, which were dated back to the second or third era, were unknown to her, though two books peculiarly interested her: Rising Threat (vol. 1) and the Brief History of the Empire (v. 4). She read both books that night, opening her eyes to what were the infamous Oblivion Crisis as well as the Septim bloodline. The first book detailed the daedra invasion on the Summerset Isle, specifically daedra such as the dremora since they were linked to the Oblivion realm. The second book, interestingly, mentioned Uriel Septim VII, the one whom Ochia and Luke mentioned in their conversation. Disappointedly, it did not say anything further on the bloodline.

She put the books back where she found them, and decided to go to sleep. As she was getting ready, a thought crossed her mind. She knows that the dwemers disappeared when Tiber Septim was conquering other nations, which was during the first era, but then she didn't found records after that. It was not known about the so called Oblivion Crisis, or the other Septims, as well as the term Thalmor. Realizing that she has much yet to learn, she fell into a deep slumber, swallowed by her own thoughts.

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**I hope you like the story. It's my second fan fiction I've ever made, so review and opinions would be appreciated! Oh yes, these are just the seeds of the plot; the fruits will come!**

**P.S. I found out that I accidently confused the race name; they were called dwarves by the giants, but their official name was the dwemers, so I had to change a few lines.**


	3. Chapter 2

**I am sorry for such a long update! Those who were waiting for it - dig in! *tosses cheese to every person in the hall* Sorry Haskil, the job's mine! =-D**

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**Chapter 2: Catching a Dragon**

The pain is unbearable; the elves tried to run but met their ultimate death. Twisting and turning, the mystical Dwemer automaton moved as it slaughtered every mer and men who served the chimers while dwarves were bathing in glory of their new god. She was there, standing with her hands full of magicka and attempting to kill the brass god. 'Why am I doing this…? Why I can't move?!' The metal giant turned and flicked its hand in her direction. Her vision became red, as she watched herself being torn to pieces… The pain was instantaneous, turning everything black, and then… a bright light gazed upon her vision.

Arcane woke up, sharply getting up as if she was still in the heat of battle; only seconds later she realized that it was all just a dream, a sick phantasy. She reached her bed and made herself comfortable. With a bitter taste in her mouth, she recollected what she has read back at the ruins she called home. 'That machine… was it Numidium?' she thought as she remembered the neat reports on the Dwemers' great accomplishment – the brass god. She knew that somewhere near that time, chimers were very displeased with the Dwemer kind, maybe even to the point of ending their alliance and waging a war. That's where her trend of thought has stopped; she knew nothing after this point though the outcome has been quite inevitable for her kind. The Dwemers may have created a god, but they were petty mortals.

'No, I must stop thinking about them. My current mission will not advance any further if I keep dreaming about the possibilities,' she distracted herself from her train of thought, and concentrated on her current issue: find a dragon. Yes, it might be quite a suicide; _however,_ they are believed to be the children of Akatosh; it's unknown for how long they have existed. They may as well know what happened to the Dwemers and more on the history since the first era.

She got up from the bed and started packing up, making sure that the bed looks neat as it was when she first entered the room. Grabbing the key from the nightstand, she headed downstairs and gave it back to Corpulus. As she was about to exit, she suddenly turned around back to him, who was sweeping the floor with a straw broom.

"Corpulus, do you know where I can acquire soul gems?" The man turned his head, stopping in his tracks.

"I don't know anything about magic, but you can try Bits and Pieces. Sayama may dig up some if you're lucky." She gave him the appreciative look.

"Thank you once again. Now I must leave you to your duties, farewell," and she went outside, closing the door behind her as the man chuckled for an unknown reason.

The sun is bright as ever, but not as painful as last time; she made a little magic barrier against sun's harmful rays, so now it is bearable to look at the townsfolk right into their eyes. The place was _blossoming_ with Nords who stood tall and pride, even the one who looks like a beggar. She turned left and saw other wooden signs; an alchemy shop and the general goods store. That must be Bits and Pieces, she thought. She entered the place only to find no one at the counter. As she walked further to the counter, she noticed a Redguard woman sitting it the chair to the right, looking pretty tired.

As Arcane stroke up a conversation with the woman, who indeed was Sayama, she asked about the soulgems. The woman gladly showed her three of them since mages weren't popular with the Nords of Skyrim, so there weren't any customers who would buy them. She immediately recognized the soulgems: two common and a grand soulgems, all filled with the correct size soul. She managed to get the cheapest price for the grand soulgem, but ended up spending all of her money on it, returning back to the state of being poor.

She exited the city and headed down slope. People of Solitude did not want to hear the news about any dragons that remained in Skyrim, so, she thought, maybe asking the farmers or other locals would be a much better idea, especially since they get to see most of the outdoors. At the intersection, she noticed a carriage with two horses on the left. Wondering if she should ask the owner, she came closer to inspect it. There was a guy sitting on top of the carriage, offering his services to the nearby couple that was heading down the road. He was quite enthusiastic about his job.

"Sir, do you…" she started talking as the guy turned his attention from the couple to Arcane, and immediately offered his services.

"Umm, no, thank you. I was just wondering if you, by any chance, saw a…" she stopped, thinking if she should mention a dragon or not, "a shadow flying in the sky?" she finally elaborated. The man immediately quieted down, his eyes wide open.

"I KNEW I wasn't the only one who saw this shadow hovering over the mountains!" he exclaimed, eyes burning with the fire of hope. The man really had too many conversations, huh?

Not getting the quote that she should play along, she immediately added: "No, I didn't see it, but I want to know where exactly you saw it." The glowing fire burned down a bit, but was still there.

"It flew right over the highest mountain, over there!" he pointed. "It's to the north of here."

"Thank you," she said casually and went back up to the intersection. The man did not stop there.

"Beware of the shadow, traveler! May the Divines protect you on your journey!" he shouted. Arcane just digested it like any snow berry, quick with a short swallow.

The path was cold and hard; she came back to the same mountain range. Noticing the highest mountain, she walked towards it. It may look like it's going to take 10 minutes to reach the mountain, but she knew better that it may even stretch up to hours and days. Recasting the protection spell against the cold and the sun, she was absorbed by the beauty of the snow that was sparkling from the sun. She never saw anything like it, only read about it in many poetic books and fables. She became quite puzzled at herself, realizing that she never noticed this beauty once she was out of the ruins.

The excitement died away as she heard growling up ahead. Casting detect life spell, she gazed upon three blobs of pink clouds. As the clouds got closer and closer, she noticed that those were white wolves, which is why she never noticed them in all the heap of the snow. One of the wolves was way up ahead, closer to her and was ready to leap for her neck. She hesitated at first to kill it since she never done that before or want to do it. Reacting slowly, she managed to hold up her arm to the leaping wolf. It knocked her back onto the ground, tearing into her robes and flesh as hard as it could, hoping to get a bite of her.

Instead of using her sword, she produced magicka into her free hand and grabbed the wolf's neck. The spell, Shocking Touch, immobilized the wolf, making it lose its grip on her bloody arm. The magic sucked life out of it, leaving just an empty shell of flesh and bones. She quickly got up and produced a lightning bolt that dealt with the remainder wolves. With the death of the hounds, she felt glad to be alive but also in sorrow for killing the poor animals for this was her fault that a life was taken away, a life that may never be replaced.

She always valued life as an important aspect and treasure. Unlike metal and gear, it could be taken away only to be left in the void. However, in this case it was either live or die, and she decided to live up to her days rather than be dead somewhere in the other realm. As she came closer to the lifeless bodies, she conjured a skeleton. With a little cloud disk hovering above her height, there appeared a skeleton warrior.

"Servant, I command you to gut and skin those animals," she pointed to the dead bodies of the wolves, "and make sure that the hides are clean." The undead just nodded in response and began its task. She knew that if she summoned a much smarter creature, like Dremora, it would feel quite revolted. Besides the smarter the summoned creature, the higher chances that you'll die from their treachery.

While the skeleton was busy with the corpses, Arcane conjured a Frost Bite and spiraled it around, going from low to high, and she created a handle to her sculpture. Creating two more of them, she settled her "buckets" on the ground. During the process, however, she was feeling discomfort because of an open wound on her arm. Noting that she could not spend anymore of her magicka resources until she finds shelter from the storm, she looked around to see if her minion has done the job. Indeed, it made a _fine_ bloody mess on the snow; what were left of the furious white wolves were bones, organs, and some flesh sticking to the bones while the hides and the meat were neatly piled up right beside the corpses. The skeleton was gone; probably his time on Nirn has run out. Conjuring him once again, both of them stocked the meat into the buckets (the hides hung on Arcane's shoulder), took them, and headed for the giant mountain.

The journey was quite annoying for her. Her summoned creature can't stay in this realm for too long, so every other minute it would disappear, making the buckets fall onto the ground, spilling all meat (good that she made the buckets very thick), and she would have to summon it again just to grab the meat and continue walking.

They've been going on like this for two hours; her magicka is running quite low, her wound is still stinging like a bee, and the storm has picked up a pace. A fear of being attacked struck her; she is quite defenseless without her magicka, besides, she is not skilled with weapons like the talented Nords. 'Just a little bit more' she thought, 'We're almost there.' After another 10 minutes, she could see a dark, giant hole in the mountain side. Deciding that'll do for now, they reached a cave. Like she saw, it was just a hole with no complicated paths that go deeper. Good that it's empty otherwise it may prove to be dangerous.

Conjuring the skeleton once again, she sent it to get some firewood while she stocked the meat in the darkest, furthest corner of the cave, and froze it solid, leaving only one meat in a single bucket. Not too long, the skeleton appeared with its hands full of wood. Arcane pointed to the center of the cave, and it settled them on the directed spot.

Using every bit of her magicka resources, she created a solid ice wall that covered the exit of the cave, and casted flames onto the pile of wood. They burned with a holy fire that seemed to give off mostly orange instead of red. Snatching the sword from skeleton's hands, she pierced the meat (that was in a bucket), and held it over the fire. Wolves do not offer the best food choice, but who would care when you have to survive in the middle of nowhere? Satisfied with her fried meat, she ate it, chewing slowly and observing its juices so that she wouldn't starve for a long time. By the time she finished frying, her faithful minion has dispersed into thin air along with his sword.

Arcane thought about her wound; she couldn't heal it without magicka and the only potion she has is needed for the dragon capture (if there is any dragons around, otherwise she just wasted her time). She settled the furs onto the ground, creating a mini bedroll (except she lacks the necessary funds to create a pillow). Grumping and feeling the ache in her arm, she settled into her bed, feeling uncomfortable being on the ground, _especially_ wounded. She wasn't able to sleep at first, but managed to succumb to the tiredness after a while.

The next morning was quite cold due to the fire consuming all the wood she had, but the room was warm for a while nonetheless. Her magicka pool has fully recovered, but the wound still needed to be tended. 'Only after the dragon,' she reminded herself as she stood up and looked around the cave she was in. 'It looks brighter than yesterday, and it has enough space for even a dragon!' she thought, only seconds realizing that this cave could be her base of operations as well as an interrogation room. The only thing it lacked was a descent bed with the necessary supplies for her work. She noticed that her icy wall became thin to the point of being very transparent, much like a window.

Crushing the exit with her sword, Arcane walked outside, not forgetting to cast her spells, to the beautiful, sunny morning. The storm was long gone, leaving a coat of pile of snow along the cold landscape. To her, the world seemed like an endless plane of snow and ice that reeked of wetness and coldness of reality.

Deciding that she should prepare for the upcoming battle, she went back to the cave. She readied her finger and poured a string of magicka into the ground. She drew an emblem, or a symbol, that would serve as her enchantment for the dragon; the purpose of the enchantment is to bind it with magical chain that, hopefully, will be strong enough to contain it in one place. 'Let's hope this will work on a dragon… now comes the hardest part,' she collected her thoughts as she began brainstorming on how she should lure the dragon down here. She gave up after a while, feeling helpless without her Dwemer machines. 'If only Vector was here… he would definitely help me out in this case,' she sighed. Her only choice, so far, is to go blindly into the wild and attack the dragon for it will be raged and will follow her, trying to kill its prey. And that's what she decided to do.

Once she was outside, she started desperately to look for the dragon, or anything that could've told her where it was. Her gaze fell onto the mountain that she was at; it resembled the one that the carriage man pointed to. As her eyes washed over the mountain, she noticed something moving. It was camouflaged among the snow and rocks, and then suddenly it took a leap into the air, wings wide and strong. Arcane watched in horror as the dragon flew around.

"So beautiful…" she whispered at the being in the air. It was white with black spots across some of its scale while its wings were like ice, graceful and gliding along the air.

Coming back to senses, she took her chance to launch a Fireball at the creature. Of course she missed it, but it was enough to attract its attention. Startled, the dragon looked to where the source of magic came from and noticed a figure in robes, presuming that she is the source of hostile magic. Both acknowledged each other's presence, and the first attack came from the dragon. Arcane managed to take cover behind a boulder of rock as the Frostbite came from the creature. Once the Frostbite stopped, she immediately launched her Fireball from both of her hands, making a successful hit at the dragon's torso. It yelped in response, flying higher to avoid any further incoming damage.

Arcane came out of her cover as quickly as she could, and dashed towards the cave with a trap. Unfortunately, the snow has made it harder to run, causing her to slip and fall. Taking this opportunity, the dragon came closer to her and prepared to launch another frost breath. Panicking, she tried to get up, but knew that she wouldn't be able to dodge the attack. She was about to put up her Ward spell as she heard a shot fire into the dragon, making it cry out in pain once again. She quickly looked around for the person who shot and found a Dwemer Sphere, none other than Vector himself.

"Vector!" she called him, as he rushed to her and helped to get up. "I am fine but more importantly I need your help in getting the dragon into the cave. Can you do that for me?" she asked him, and he nodded in response.

The dragon tried to attack, but Arcane put up a Ward just in time when it came. She noticed that it was quite puzzled as to why the machine hasn't killed her but helped her instead. While it was busy with her, Vector backed away and shot at it once again, craving its attention towards him. The dragon decided that the machine had to die first, so it started chasing him while he successfully dodged every attack it launched at him. The battle shifted closer and closer to the cave until Vector ran into it, causing the dragon to land and follow him, deciding that physical attack would be much effective against a machine. The dragon did not notice that it was standing on top of the circle. Being behind the dragon gave Arcane some advantages – she wasn't the main course of it just yet, so she took this opportunity to start the spell that has been lying in her mind the entire time. Holding the soulgem in one hand and reaching out both of her hands towards the circle, she began chanting.

The soulgem started to emit such power and glow that it even floated on top of her hand, barely touching it. The flows of magicka came from both her and the soulgem, and were absorbed into the symbol. The symbol was glowing so brightly that it even blinded her and caused the two fighters to look at it. Not losing concentration, she moved her arms into various positions. Immediately, the magic chain began to form out of the circle, following her arm's dance; the dragon felt powerless against them. Finally, she bound its mouth not too hard but enough to let it speak and prevent it from emitting any frost attacks. At the end of the ritual, she fell onto her knees as she has exhausted all her power; it was tiring to lose so much magicka at once.

She took a look at the dragon, feeling relieved that it couldn't make any movement against the chains. Remembering her rescue, she tilted her head to Vector who was now patiently standing right next to her.

"Thank you for your help, Vector," she panted, "how did you find me and, more importantly, why are you here?" Indeed, the Dwemer machines are not supposed to disobey her commands but what could she do about him? After all, they cannot speak, or even make a single noise, she sighed.

"Lady Arcane, I came here on my own accord and will," she heard someone say in a neutral yet un-human voice. Her eyes began to widen as she looked at her friend, surprise and confusion written all over her face.

"Vector, you… you can talk?" she questioned him, her voice betrayed her shock.

"Yes, lady Arcane. I can explain it."

* * *

**Well, well, isn't it interesting? Vector sure has more abilities than he's letting on.**

**I am sorry for such a long update; the Daedra has been playing pranks on my muse.**

**Yesh, so, stay tuned and you'll see how the interrogation will go.**

**P.S. The dragon is a frost one, and I haven't decided its gender. Any advice?**


End file.
